"Steve Clark" <sclark(at)netwolves(dot)com> writes:
> Until 8.3.0 the following worked:
> SELECT coalesce(param_value,chr(0)) from t_system_params where param_name =
> 'default_unit_key';
It would have "worked" only for rather small values of "work", since
most of the support for type TEXT isn't null-safe. Try something like
"select chr(0) || 'foo';" for example. Wouldn't an empty string do what
you want better?
> it now fails with:
> ERROR: null character not permitted
This is an intentional change and won't be undone, at least not until
TEXT is null-safe, which isn't likely to happen in the foreseeable future.
regards, tom lane